Recognized for his out-of-the-box pondering and fast decision-making, retired bureaucrat Praveen Pardeshi has been appointed the Chief Financial Advisor (CEA) to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Pardeshi, stated to be near Fadnavis, has been tasked with getting ready Maharashtra’s Imaginative and prescient 2047, and making the state a trillion-dollar economic system.
Earlier than that, Pardeshi, 63, held a number of posts, and performed a major position because the municipal commissioner of the civic our bodies in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The 1985-batch IAS officer was additionally counseled for his position because the district collector when an enormous earthquake struck Latur in 1993.
Constructing a highway
Because the commissioner of the Pune Municipal Company (PMC) from 2007 to 2010, Pardeshi had gone out of his solution to assemble a secure highway for motorists and two-wheeler riders. The slim stretch riddled with potholes, part of the Pune-Mumbai freeway at Khadki, had seen almost 200 two-wheeler riders being killed in 10 years. It additionally precipitated heavy site visitors on the Pune-Mumbai freeway each in Pune metropolis and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The Indian Specific had highlighted the pathetic situation of the highway, and the hazard it posed to the lives of the travellers repeatedly since 1996. Nonetheless, neither the native cantonment board nor the folks’s representatives may do something about it.
”The stretch was below the Khadki Cantonment Board, which had thrown up its palms to redo the highway, citing lack of funds,” stated Dominic Lobo, former vice chairman of the Khadki Cantonment.
When Pardeshi took cost because the PMC commissioner, he confirmed his readiness to redo the highway. ”Although the highway is just not below PMC’s jurisdiction, I’ll speak to the Khadki Cantonment Board, and take the accountability of constructing it safer for commuters. We’ll assemble the highway below JNNURM. I’ll speak to the Union ministry about this,” Pardeshi advised The Indian Specific.
Days later, PMC got here up with a plan to assemble the highway at a price of Rs 23 crore.
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On Might 8, 2009, the concretised highway was thrown open to the general public, and within the final 16 years, accidents have diminished on the stretch, which runs almost two kilometres.
”Earlier than the highway was made, yearly 15 to twenty two-wheeler riders died on the highway in accidents after being hit by heavy automobiles. This was as a result of the highway was filled with potholes and craters. After the highway was made, accidents have diminished by 90 to 95 per cent,” stated Lobo.
After the highway was concretised, site visitors chaos additionally eased to an extent.
Civic physique officers stated when Pardeshi took the choice to assemble a highway which was not below PMC’s jurisdiction, it was the primary time such a factor had occurred. “I feel that was a historic choice to exit of the way in which, and assemble a highway which was not below the PMC jurisdiction,” stated Okay C Karkar, former PMC deputy municipal commissioner.
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Pardeshi additionally took up the duty of developing a flyover on the highway which results in Yerawada from Khadki.
Dealing with an argument
In Pimpri-Chinchwad, the place he served because the municipal commissioner from 1997 to 1999, Pardeshi undertook the long-pending widening work on the Pune-Mumbai freeway. The administration stepped in after The Indian Specific highlighted the state of the highway.
Nonetheless, the road-widening challenge led to an argument when the civic administration determined to cut down as many as 1,000 bushes. A nature lover, Pardeshi got here up with an concept to transplant the bushes, which in the end drew reward for him.
“It was pending for years. First, Pardeshi undertook the highway widening throughout his tenure, then Dilip Band because the civic chief, carried it ahead. These two officers pushed the quicker growth of Pimpri-Chinchwad,” stated activist Manav Kamble.
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Pardeshi was often known as a tricky officer. He filed a First Info Report (FIR) towards two PMC engineers for negligence after an incident of wall collapse — in an motion taken for the primary time.
Pardeshi additionally served because the principal and extra chief secretary to Fadnavis throughout his tenure because the chief minister from 2014 to 2019. In 2021, he took voluntary retirement after he misplaced the chance to grow to be state chief secretary. Earlier than being appointed CEA to the chief minister, he was the chief government officer (CEO) of the Maharashtra Establishment of Transformation (MITRA).
